Fundamental theorem of calculus
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The fundamental theorem of calculus is the statement that the two central operations of calculus, differentiation and integration, are inverse operations: if a continuous function is first integrated and then differentiated, the original function is retrieved. An important consequence, sometimes called the second fundamental theorem of calculus, allows one to compute integrals by using an antiderivative of the function to be integrated. The first published statement and proof of the fundamental theorem was by the Scottish mathematician James Gregory (1638-1675).[1]
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Intuitively, the theorem simply states that the sum of infinitesimal changes in a quantity over time (or some other quantity) add up to the net change in the quantity.
To comprehend this statement, we will start with an example. Suppose a particle travels in a straight line with its position given by x(t) where t is time. The derivative of this function is equal to the infinitesimal change in quantity per infinitesimal change in time (of course, the derivative itself is dependent on time). Let us define this change in distance per time as the speed v of the particle. In Leibniz's notation:
Rearranging this equation (see differential (infinitesimal)), it follows that:
By the logic above, a change in x, call it Δx, is the sum of the infinitesimal changes dx. It is also equal to the sum of the infinitesimal products of the derivative and time. This infinite summation is integration; hence, the integration operation allows the recovery of the original function from its derivative. As one can reasonably infer, this operation works in reverse as we can differentiate the result of our integral to recover the original derivative.

Stated formally, the first (part of the) fundamental theorem of calculus says the following.
Let f be a continuous real-valued function defined on a closed interval [a, b]. Let F be the function defined for x in [a, b] by
then
for every x in [a, b].
The second (part of the) fundamental theorem of calculus is a kind of converse to this.
Let f be a continuous real-valued function defined on a closed interval [a, b]. Let F be a function such that
for all x in [a, b]
then
.
Let f be a real-valued function defined on a closed interval [a, b]. Let F be a function such that
for all x in [a, b]
then
for all x in [a, b]
and
.
As an example, suppose you need to calculate
Here, f(x) = x2 and we can use
as the antiderivative. Therefore:
Or, more generally, suppose you need to calculate
Here, f(t) = t3 and we can use
as the antiderivative. Therefore:
But this result could have been found much more easily as
Suppose that
Let there be two numbers x1 and x1 + Δx in [a, b]. So we have
and
Subtracting the two equations gives
It can be shown that

- (The sum of the areas of two adjacent regions is equal to the area of both regions combined.)
Manipulating this equation gives
Substituting the above into (1) results in
According to the mean value theorem for integration, there exists a c in [x1, x1 + Δx] such that
.
Substituting the above into (2) we get
.
Dividing both sides by Δx gives

- Notice that the expression on the left side of the equation is Newton's difference quotient for F at x1.
Take the limit as Δx → 0 on both sides of the equation.
The expression on the left side of the equation is the definition of the derivative of F at x1.
To find the other limit, we will use the squeeze theorem. The number c is in the interval [x1, x1 + Δx], so x1 ≤ c ≤ x1 + Δx.
Also,
and
.
Therefore, according to the squeeze theorem,
Substituting into (3), we get
The function f is continuous at c, so the limit can be taken inside the function. Therefore, we get
.
which completes the proof.
(Leithold et al, 1996)
This is a limit proof by Riemann sums.
Let f be continuous on the interval [a, b], and let F be an antiderivative of f. Begin with the quantity
.
Let there be numbers
- x1, ..., xn
such that
.
It follows that
.
Now, we add each F(xi) along with its additive inverse, so that the resulting quantity is equal:
The above quantity can be written as the following sum:
Next we will employ the mean value theorem. Stated briefly,
Let F be continuous on the closed interval [a, b] and differentiable on the open interval (a, b). Then there exists some c in (a, b) such that
It follows that
The function F is differentiable on the interval [a, b]; therefore, it is also differentiable and continuous on each interval xi-1. Therefore, according to the mean value theorem (above),
Substituting the above into (1), we get
The assumption implies F'(ci) = f(ci). Also, xi − xi − 1 can be expressed as Δx of partition i.
Notice that we are describing the area of a rectangle, with the width times the height, and we are adding the areas together. Each rectangle, by virtue of the Mean Value Theorem, describes an approximation of the curve section it is drawn over. Also notice that Δxi does not need to be the same for any value of i, or in other words that the width of the rectangles can differ. What we have to do is approximate the curve with n rectangles. Now, as the size of the partitions get smaller and n increases, resulting in more partitions to cover the space, we will get closer and closer to the actual area of the curve.
By taking the limit of the expression as the norm of the partitions approaches zero, we arrive at the Riemann integral. That is, we take the limit as the largest of the partitions approaches zero in size, so that all other partitions are smaller and the number of partitions approaches infinity.
So, we take the limit on both sides of (2). This gives us
Neither F(b) nor F(a) is dependent on ||Δ||, so the limit on the left side remains F(b) - F(a).
The expression on the right side of the equation defines an integral over f from a to b. Therefore, we obtain
which completes the proof.
We don't need to assume continuity of f on the whole interval. Part I of the theorem then says: if f is any Lebesgue integrable function on [a,b] and x0 is a number in [a,b] such that f is continuous at x0, then
is differentiable for x = x0 with F'(x0) = f(x0). We can relax the conditions on f still further and suppose that it is merely locally integrable. In that case, we can conclude that the function F is differentiable almost everywhere and F'(x)=f(x) almost everywhere. This is sometimes known as Lebesgue's differentiation theorem.
Part II of the theorem is true for any Lebesgue integrable function f which has an antiderivative F (not all integrable functions do, though).
The version of Taylor's theorem which expresses the error term as an integral can be seen as a generalization of the Fundamental Theorem.
There is a version of the theorem for complex functions: suppose U is an open set in C and f: U -> C is a function which has a holomorphic antiderivative F on U. Then for every curve γ : [a, b] -> U, the curve integral can be computed as
The fundamental theorem can be generalized to curve and surface integrals in higher dimensions and on manifolds.
One of the most powerful statements in this direction is Stokes' theorem.
- ^ See, e.g., Marlow Anderson, Victor J. Katz, Robin J. Wilson, Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of Mathematical History, Mathematical Association of America, 2004, p. 114.
- Larson, Ron, Bruce H. Edwards, David E. Heyd. Calculus of a single variable. 7th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
- Leithold, L. (1996). The calculus 7 of a single variable. 6th ed. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
- Malet, A, Studies on James Gregorie (1638-1675) (PhD Thesis, Princeton, 1989).
- Stewart, J. (2003). Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. In Integrals. In Calculus: early transcendentals. Belmont, California: Thomson/Brooks/Cole.
- Turnbull, H W (ed.), The James Gregory Tercentenary Memorial Volume (London, 1939)



















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![F(b) - F(a) = \sum_{i=1}^n [F(x_i) - F(x_{i-1})] \qquad (1)](../../../math/d/2/4/d249e4e0a9d12a6df94facb0f7c99aca.png)



![F(b) - F(a) = \sum_{i=1}^n [F'(c_i)(x_i - x_{i-1})].](../../../math/8/f/4/8f493c6aecd95f9f031bc3fd699a569c.png)
![F(b) - F(a) = \sum_{i=1}^n [f(c_i)(\Delta x_i)] \qquad (2)](../../../math/d/a/0/da0bfeefbb02affa1534e0ff44290cf7.png)
![\lim_{\| \Delta \| \to 0} F(b) - F(a) = \lim_{\| \Delta \| \to 0} \sum_{i=1}^n [f(c_i)(\Delta x_i)]\,.](../../../math/f/2/3/f2336c2ec33fe060f6a9aaa72daffa42.png)
![F(b) - F(a) = \lim_{\| \Delta \| \to 0} \sum_{i=1}^n [f(c_i)(\Delta x_i)]](../../../math/f/3/2/f3271269dbb7b44389d5427dab8b09eb.png)

